My Journey, One Step at a Time

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Monthly Archives: April 2016

So you aren’t suppose to compare yourselves to others, right? But is it fair to compare yourself to….yourself!?? I caught myself looking at old photos and saw this picture of when I was 30 weeks pregnant with Smith. I thought, “you know, I was pretty big at 30 weeks the FIRST time too!” It made me feel a little better.

Round 1 – 30 Weeks

Round 2 – 30 Weeks

But then, I took a picture of this time at 30 weeks. Ugh, I AM bigger. By what feels like an astronomical amount. I keep reminding myself it’s all worth it to welcome a healthy baby in 10 short/long weeks.

Hitting the ‘single digit weeks‘ doesn’t quite have the buzz that it did with Round 1. But it’s a big milestone to achieve regardless. I’m still in that place of ‘let’s do this already’ met with ‘oh boy, lots to do yet..let’s keep the distraction coming and the baby cooking.’ It depends on the day, and the shoes I’m fight to wear on which side of the coin wins! 🙂

Distraction is my friend! We celebrated Smith’s second birthday, kicked off the holiday season, new year, and new job — all during this time frame! A nice little way to help a few weeks fly by.

I officially announced our exciting news the ‘old school’ way, via Christmas card, and it was really fun surprising people and getting text messages after their mail had arrived. I then made it really public with a cute little Instagram of Smith!

This really has been the ‘honeymoon’ trimester. I made it past the nauseated phase, gained some energy, and could eat normal again. (A blessing and a curse during holiday food time! :))

I vowed to get moving this trimester to capitalize on feeling good. I got a Fitbit for Christmas and started a new job just after the first of the year. I now work in a hospital that covers about 1.5 miles in length. So I started getting about 4-5k steps over my lunch hour, with a simple ‘down and back’ lap. It.feels.awesome!

All things considered January and February — are the lamest months of the year. And being pregnant during those long months was, well, loooooooooong. I did my best finding fun things to do to pass the time. But it was tough. Mentally more so than anything.

We got to see our little nugget during this time, at the 20 week appointment. We did not find out the gender, so we had to look away a lot, but what we did see and hear was as magical as anything.
People express SHOCK when they find out that we did not find out the gender a second time. I remember with Smith people were a lot more ‘oh that’s neat’, even if they themselves ‘could never do it, I’m such a planner, etc….’. But this time, it’s like disbelief! I simply smile and nod. You’ll never convince me that finding out is ‘better’ or ‘helpful’. It’s the most magical surprise in life. I wouldn’t do it any other way. Agree to disagree on this one!

We moved Smith to his ‘big boy’ room during this time. We hyped it up as we painted the room and his bed, and he was quite excited for it all. We didn’t sell it as ‘you are leaving this room to go over here because baby needs your room now.’ That likely wouldn’t have gone so well.

Smith understands that “Momma has a baby in her belly”, but that’s about as deep as the conversation goes. I get asked a LOT; ‘Is Smith excited to be a big brother? How does Smith feel about this? Etc’. Honestly, it’s a question that makes me feel like a bad Mom. Because we just don’t really focus on it. I have the mentality/approach that this baby is going to ROCK HIS WORLD no matter what, so I might as well make every moment I can about him until that point. Ice cream dates, fun weekend plans, evenings of dinner conversation and play, etc.
I have moments where I get sad thinking that Smith will no longer be our whole world. And that he’ll likely not remember life at all with being the only one. But those moments are met equally with being so excited for him to have a sibling. And being my little helper. And having someone to make giggle and protect.

Those are my big, main, highlights. Here are some quick facts:
—My belly button popped out right at the beginning of this trimester. I think with round one I was about 28ish weeks. This time? More like 15ish. Ek!
—We are set on names. We have the same girl name as round one. But boy names is/was HARD. Most people agree that boy names are harder in general. And for us, we loved Smith so much, we never even had a back-up. So we had to start from scratch AND find something that ‘sounds good together’.
—I’m sitting at about 20 lbs of weight gain by the end of this trimester. A little frightening giving the growth spurt that happens during the final stretch. I can only remain hopeful that Summer walks can happen a LOT with baby. 🙂 And with that, I officially stopped weighing myself and plan to stop even looking when I’m at appointments!
—I passed my glucose test, yay!
—We are sticking with the same nursery theme/decor for baby. We’re excited to give the room a fresh coat of paint, but otherwise, we are set as-is.
—My sister saved me and my wardrobe woes by loaning me her stash. A fresh few looks to get me through!!
—Socks and shoes are getting tough. Is it Spring yet?
—Sleep officially only happens on my left side. Which is apparently the ‘best side’ so that’s good. But loosing options, not so fun!
—Baby is a movin’ and a groovin’ and it will always be my most favorite thing. Ever!